Report: UAE behind ‘man-made fuel shortage’ in Yemen’s Socotra

It has been reported that UAE-backed militias operating on the Yemeni island of Socotra have started to close fuel stations in the archipelago, causing a major fuel crisis, according to local sources on Sunday.

Citing Al-Mahrah News, the Houthi-affiliated Uprising Today reported that local residents claimed that mercenaries supported by Abu Dhabi were preventing them from obtaining oil derivatives and have sought to deflect the blame onto the Saudi-backed government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

It has been suggested that the campaign is designed to impose the UAE’s ambitions of controlling the sale of oil derivatives on the island by disrupting the arrival of oil shipments from several Yemeni ports for more than 10 days to force the island’s local authority to use oil suppliers from Abu Dhabi.

Thousands of Yemenis demonstrate against UAE in Socotra island

The news site quoted a local as saying the UAE “wants to control the oil market in the archipelago as if it’s its own, and not a Yemeni island. This is what the UAE also wants to do in the rest of the southern provinces”.

There has been previous accusations that the UAE is occupying the strategically located island and seeking to sow political discord.

A report last year found that the UAE’s military presence has led to an almost complete disruption of the production and export of oil and gas in addition to the disruption of port activity and airport operations.

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